Half-Blood
by CamoAsh
Summary: Roach has been infected by a Walker, will they be able to save him? Or will he have to live with being a half-zombie for the rest of his life? Trapped with bandits, he now has to fight a battle in his own mnid- to figure out who's side he is on.
1. Clawed

_**Uh…ok…lets see how this turns out! Honestly this story had been floating in my head ever since I saw **_**The Girl With All the Gifts**_** and now the idea won't go away. So…give me feedback! Please!?**_

_**And this is soooorrrtttt of an AU(alternate universe) but idk. My OC is here too! 3 *lots of swearing***_

The monsters were everywhere. Well, they were kind of zombies.

Kind of.

The didn't burn in the light, and boy, could they run. Ok, they can't run _that_ fast. You could still outrun them if you were scared enough.

Lets just call them Walkers. That'll do.

That was the name decided on them. Ever since the outbreak started, the Walkers had been spreading everywhere. So MacTavish and Friends ™ decided to branch on their own. Together of course.

They had been living at a small department store for a while. If any Walkers were seen around the area, they would move to find another place.

MacTavish peeked around the corner and aimed his gun to search for any movement.

Nothing.

Roach went down the aisle beside him, looking for any medicine that could be used. He grabbed Panadol, Strepsils, and any other small meds and shoved them in is backpack. MacTavish kept looking behind them and back again, keeping his sights aimed down.

"Chill out would ya?" Roach hushed. "You're making _me_ edgy." They reached the edge of the aisle and started looking at the small foods, crackers, fruit, drinks and so on.

They only took what they need, so then they headed back down the aisle. As they reached the broken slider doors, Roach tripped on a stray box and tried to grab a rack of small marbles, laying in little boxes. They rack fell down with him and the marbles tumbled out and scattered along the floor.

MacTavish sighed and reached to help Roach up, but put his hand back to his gun as he heard scuffling coming from the aisle ahead of them.

A Walker spotted them at the entrance and springing at them. MacTavish didn't shoot, only if he really needed to. It could attract more attention than they bargained for.

Roach panicked at the sight of the Walker and tried to stand up, only to slip on the scattered marbles and fall again. MacTavish tried to shove the Walker away to give Roach more time, only to find the Walker pushing him away with the force of a building behind it. MacTavish tumbled down and hit his head on the counter, dazing him for a few moments.

And a few moments was all the Walker needed. As Roach tried to push it away when it got closer, it seemed to get angry and slashed at him with its claws.

Did I mention the Walkers have really long sharp nail things? We just call them claws. Really-long-sharp-nail-things is just too long.

As its claws came in contact with his right arm, he cried out. The Walker pushed him down and got the upper hand, holding down a struggling Roach while it face got closer….

Half a mag of bullets rang into the air as MacTavish shot the ugly creature, but drops of saliva and blood went all over Roach, a bit going into his arm and making it sting even more. The Walker fell down beside him, dead.

"Shit shit shit. Are you ok? Did you get bit?" MacTavish fretted. Roach said nothing as he looked at his bloodied arm. Bits of green blood and saliva hung around it, and MacTavish met Roach's eyes with shock and horror. Roach looked at the gun in MacTavish's hand, then looked into his eyes again.

"No. _no._ I'm not doing that. We have a doctor. We can find a lab. You'll be okay." Roach still didn't say anything as MacTavish got bandages out and started wrapping them around his arm.

"Come on, let's go." He lifted Roach and stayed close to his side in case he fell, and they started the trek back to their group.

_**OOOOOOO! CLIFFHANGER! AHAHAHA!**_

_**Leave me a review….or I'll get the Walkers after you…**_

_**My OC comes later(not that anyone cares) and you get to the see the bitchy defensive side of her! Yay! UwU**_

_**If you did like it, maybe favourite it?**_

_**Please?**_

_**Feedback and ideas are always welcome, kiddos. (If you leave a review, I'll give u cookie, here-**____**, only if you give me a review!)**_

_**Byyyeeeee!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	2. The Lab

_**Here's the second chapter…..bye**_

_**A/N: No, Tod is not my OC, it's Blade. Just letting ya know ;)**_

MacTavish half dragged a limp Roach into the store. He placed him down in a corner of the room, and Ghost rushed over.

"Mac…what…." He trailed off in disbelief.

"He wasn't bitten." He said, with his voice breaking. "It was only a scratch, but he got blood and saliva in it. It's definitely infected by now." He added in a low tone to Ghost.

"Tod! Come 'ere!" Ghost called. A tall man peered around the corner of a magazine aisle, and hurried over. Tod had flat black hair and forest green eyes, with a brown complexion, wearing a plain black shirt and jeans.

Tod carefully inspected Roach's slashed arm. His long-sleeve shirt was torn where 3 claw marks ripped it open, and blood poured down his arm.

"It's only a scratch….I think I may know how to fix it, but we will need to go somewhere else. Not a hospital either." He added, placing Roach's arm across his chest. He looked at and MacTavish and Ghost.

"We need a science lab." He looked down at Roach stirring slightly. "And maybe one with those white rooms where they put crazy people."

For 2 days they travelled by car. With Roach getting worse every hour. He was still unconscious, but he kept stirring in his sleep and making small growling sounds. They choose the quietest routes, but sometimes a Walker would hopelessly chase them. They could run, but not at 90 km/h. Tod was going slower as there was a lot of debris on the road from crashes and explosions.

At last, they found an abandoned lab in a city that they had no idea what it was called. It was half destroyed, so that was reasonable.

They pulled up in the deserted carpark, which was the size of an airport carpark. It wasn't completely deserted. A lonely car here, half a Walker there.

Yes, _half_ a Walker. It didn't have any legs, so they paid no attention to it, even though it growled at them.

Ghost and MacTavish supported Roach around their shoulders as Tod led the way. They reached the double doors, but they didn't open. MacTavish slammed his gun into the glass, and the whole door shattered.

They stepped through the broken doors and Tod took the main again, leading them down a hallway, to the right, down another hallway and through another set of double doors. These were the ones that swung open, though. Tod pushed open the doors with no fear of what could be on the other side, he probably forgot that he was living in an apocalyptic world. He forgets important things like that sometimes.

There was something that looked like an operating table in the middle, but it had metal arm restraints on the sides.

Kind of perfect.

Ghost set Roach down onto the table while MacTavish pulled his rifle from his side and aimed at the door, watching for intruders.

Roach was stirring a lot more now, and his eyelids started moving slightly.

"Put his arms in." Tod said. Ghost put his left arm in the restraint while Tod did the other. It was just as well they did, because Roach's eyes snapped open and stared blankly at the white ceiling.

"I'll try to run some blood tests. That will take a while." He hushed.

Ghost nodded and met MacTavish's eyes, then followed him out the doors to clear the building of any stray Walkers.

_**Sorry these chapters are always kinda short. I'm literally working on 3 stories at a time and trying to do at least one chapter every day. **_

_**I kind of have a plan for what I do next, but any ideas are welcome. **_

_**Seriously, give me the first thing that comes to your mind….I dare you! All reviews get a cookie!**___

_**There will be more, but bye for now kiddos.**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	3. Fused

_**Hello!...goodbye….**_

Ghost sat on one of the waiting rooms with MacTavish outside the room Roach was in. there had, surprisingly, been no Walkers. Maybe they knew there wasn't food in this place.

A large clutter of metal came from inside the room, followed by a cry of pain, which sounded like Roach. Ghost heard Tod curse, then a bit of shuffling afterwards. The doors swung open, and Tod walked out.

"Ok…this will take a lot of explaining." He jerked his head towards the room, so they both stood up and followed him through the doors. Roach lay on the table, breathing quiet noisily, his arms still held.

"OK…from what I could tell, the Walker's saliva has fused with his DNA." He blurted out.

From the blank looks on their faces, he knew they didn't have a clue what he was on about.

"Let me explain. The saliva that has gotten into his cut _did_ get into his bloodstream, _but._ Since it was only a _scratch_ and not a bite, the bacteria has…fused with him, and didn't go directly to his bloodstream, but more…sank in... I _could_ cure it with the right stuff, but to do that, I would have to take half his DNA out of him, which would kill him."

MacTavish spoke first.

"So…is he a Walker?" that question made it clear that he had not listened to a _single word _Tod had said.

"Not…exactly. He might have the characteristics of a Walker, but he won't go crazy every time he smells human flesh. I _think._ He may react to blood though. He might have to…wear a special mask. So if he _does_ go crazy, he can't bite anyone."

Ghost was _shook_ as he heard those last words…

"Wait, he can still infect us?" he asked in surprise.

Tod deadpanned. "Ghost, have you even be listening to _one word_ I have been saying?"

"….maybe." Ghost replied with a smile. But you couldn't tell under the mask.

Tod sighed. "_Yes_, he can still infect us so you have to be _very careful._ Don't feed him raw meat otherwise he'll just want more and more and he might go crazy. Oh, I don't know what will happen around other Walkers, either."

At this point, Roach's eyes had opened, and he was staring at Ghost intently. He moved his hands a bit, and he started pulling against the restraints, trying to break free.

"Calm down bug, you're ok." MacTavish soothed. "You're just a bit sick, that's all." He sounded extremely pitiful for him.

"I'd guess now is the time to explain everything, now that he's awake." Ghost and MacTavish nodded, and headed out the doors.

"I don't _want_ to wear a mask!" Roach whined. "It'll be uncomfortable and it looks weird!" he was still strapped down to the cold metal table.

"You're more worried about what you'll look like wearing it than your friend's safety? I Thought I taught you better, Gary. And, until you agree to wear it, I'm not letting you out. You only need to wear it around the others."

"What if we're sleeping near each other?" Roach shot back. "I'm not wearing it while I sleep."

"well….we can work something out. I guess you'll have to sleep somewhere separate."

Roach frowned up at Tod, and stared.

"Are you going to agree to wear the mask?"

"fine." He mumbled.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

"Fine!" Roach cried.

"Good." Tod knew he would have agreed to it eventually. He un-clipped Roach's arms from the metal restraints, and went to get the mask while Roach sat up.

Tod came back with the mask. It wasn't a full face one, it only covered his mouth and chin. It was fully black, with lines in front of the mouth for breathing, while the straps for the head were elastic.

"I have to wear _that!?_...ok, it's not that bad. Maybe I'll look intimidating." He pulled on the mask/safety tool and looked in his reflection in the glass on the wall in front of him.

"Whoa! Mad!" Roach cooed.

Tod rolled his eyes. "And you made such a big deal out of it. Well, let's go see the other two."

Roach swung his legs off the table and landed on the cold floor, following Tod out the double doors.

_**If you review, you get a cookie! **___

_**Listening to 8D Audio makes me feel high.**_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one.**_

_**The chapters for the other stories are gonna come out real slow, I have writers block and I think I'm sick. I think. And I'm allergic to something at school. I think it's the cleaning agents they use in the desks. So I'm literally allergic to school. **___

_**My OC is coming in the next chapter. And what do you think of Tod? Should he be an OC?**_

_**Goodbyeeeee**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	4. New Girl

_**From now on I promise you all TWO chapters each time I upload, I don't know the normal amount of chapters people usually upload, but two chapters, for EVERY story. Because they are usually pretty short. :D Enjoy! **_

Roach stood in front of MacTavish and Ghost, sitting on the seats outside the room.

"You look…new." Ghost wavered. He wasn't sure how Roach would react to his compliments.

"Well, if it keeps us safe, I'm fine with it." MacTavish swung his head to the right as he heard a door creak.

"Calm down." Hushed Tod. "Probably just the wind getting in."

"I didn't know wind could get through fully boarded up windows." Muttered Ghost.

Tod was about to respond when a girl walked around the corner and aimed her rifle at them. She just stood there, in the hallway, aiming at them. Black hair hanging around her back, blue eyes and a pale complexion, she was…pretty.

"Hello there." Tod said calmly. "I'm Tod. Nice to see another human face around here besides the Walkers." How was he so _calm_ in her sudden presence?

The girl was silent, but Roach muttered,

"There's still us, gollophead." His response was a clip behind the ear. Tod was going to say something back but the girl spoke from the end of the hallway.

"Why does he have a mask? Was he bitten? Why isn't he dead?" she stressed. Roach glared at her, which only made him seem more hostile to her.

"It's complicated. Oh, didn't catch your name, either." Ghost and MacTavish were still silent. Tod was the people-person.

"Blade." Was all she said. She had a clear Australian accent, mixed with a growl of hostility. She lowered her gun a bit, and walked closer towards the group.

"It that it?" Ghost asked. "Just Blade? No given names or anything…" he trailed off under Blade's withering glare. She finally lowered the gun and swung it onto her back- Roach noticed it was on a strap. Makes sense, that way you can't really drop it.

"Just Blade. So, what are you fellas doin' here? Not for a maccas run, I don't think." She almost burst out laughing at their confused faces.

"What's….what's a maccas run?" MacTavish asked carefully. Blade rolled her eyes.

"You know, when you go to MacDonald's and get a meal? A maccas run. Anyway, there's some pretty nasty lookin' Walkers out there who chased me in here." She stopped as MacTavish and Ghost's hands jumped to their guns, but they hesitated as she spoke again.

"Nah, don't worry. They're well away from here, and I outran them. This was the only place I knew was safe. Can't get through those glass doors, you see. But they usually try to get in here cause it's nice and cool." She stopped again as their eyes widened.

"What?"

"You mean…_the front doors we broke to get in here_?" MacTavish fretted. He was starting to get anxious, as usual.

"No…" Blade started. "I only met you drongos five minutes ago and already you tell me _you broke a door to get in here? _They've been trying to get in here ever since this place was evacuated! It has human scent all over it!" Now _she_ was stressing too.

Roach took an opportunity to test the new girl.

"Hold on, you told us that they try to get in here because it's a cooler climate, and _now_ you tell us it's because this place is filled with human scent?"

"Can't you smell the scent too? You're like, half infected right?" she shot right back.

"I-"

A large crash and many growls echoed from the hallway that they had come down to get to the room.

"See,yah galahs." She turned and bolted back the way she had come, readying her gun again, and disappeared down the hallway.

They all turned their heads towards the growing noise coming from the hallway opposite them, but Roach wrestled his mask off and threw it on a vacant seat next to Ghost. The two readied their guns and stood up, aiming down the hallway.

"Hey, you aren't supposed to take that off!" Tod fretted, but Roach ignored him, glaring down the hallway. The first Walker appeared at the end of the hallway, but Roach stood his ground. After the first came four more….six more…until there was a whole crowd of them lumbering down the hallway, growling at them. Their grey skin and long claws reflected in the one working light above them.

Roach growled deep in his throat. Could humans do that? Like dogs did? And as soon as he growled, all the Walkers stopped, just staring at the strange, hostile human in front of them.

Roach started walking forwards, baring his very-human teeth, and growling more, getting closer and closer until he picked up a Walker at the front of the crowd by its neck and threw it against the wall, stunning it. The other Walker backed up, nervous-ness painted on their dead faces. He suddenly lunged at the closest Walker, but they all jumped back, astounded.

Roach growled again, louder this time, and the Walkers turned around and retreated the way they had come. Once they were all gone and the hallway was silent, Roach turned around to the shocked faces of his teammates. MacTavish spoke first.

"What…was…" he found his voice and tried again. "What did you do? You just…Scared them off. Just like that." His voice was shaky, which was reasonable if you had just seen a whole crowd of blood-crazed monsters trudging towards you.

"I dunno….it was like….I felt in control of them all. Like they would never dare attack me. Is that weird?"

"Very weird." Replied Tod. "The Walkers must have sensed the Walker DNA you have, and as far as I can tell, Walker don't mess with other Walkers." He shrugged as he added, "That's the only reason I can come up with anyway."

Ghost hadn't said a word. He was blankly staring down the hallway.

"Ghost?" Roach tried. He looked into his eyes.

"That…was…awesome."

_**I think this is the longest chapter I've done yet…YEAAHHH! Thank you all for reading this far, I really appreciate it.**_

_**If you are wondering I got the idea from the movie/book **_**The Girl With All the Gifts **_** which is kinda the same except she was born as a half-zombie thing(I forgot what they called them) and she was told that she ate her way out of her mother's womb because her mother was infected also. \\(^_^)/**_

_**Blade will be back next chapter! (She's secretly kinda scared of Roach….shhh..I never told you this)**_

_**I know you guys wait very patiently for the next chapters so like I said before, two chapters (or three!) every time I upload. :)**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	5. A Murder of Crows

_**Nothin much to say… so read on!**_

They kept on the move, travelling from a corner store for food, they found a soccer field that had toilets- and they found showers. The water was cold, but that was good enough for them.

As Roach scrubbed his dirty hair, he thought about what had happened yesterday. It had felt natural, but he had ignored the others, would that happen every time? He hadn't eaten in about three days, there wasn't any food at the labs, and he didn't like the food Ghost had found for them. He felt like eating some sort of meat- raw or cooked, it would not bother him.

Roach turned off the shower and dried himself off with an old discarded towel they had found in the corner of the bathroom. The others had found smaller pieces of cloth just outside-probably handtowels. They _could_ have shared it they really needed to-but being men, that was kinda gross.

He re-dressed in the same clothes he had worn before- a dark green t-shirt and black jeans. He stepped out from the showers that had no doors (but it had walls) and found the others looking at themselves in the mirror. MacTavish was running his hands through his hands as if to brush it. Ghost-for once- had his mask and tinted red sunglasses off, his wet, blonde hair sticking to his forehead. He had a recent cut in his right hand from a bit of metal they had been moving to get it out of their path.

"Is there any food?" he asked. "I'm starving…" Ghost was leaning against the wall, and he rolled his eyes and eyed the cut on his hand.

"You said you didn't want any of the food I got. You don't want it, you don't get it." He seemed to be in a bad mood today.

"Well, what do you feel like?" Tod came out his shower, his wet black fringe dangling around his eyes. He sported a black t-shirt and brown khaki pants. He looked over at MacTavish combing his hair with his hands, and rolled his eyes.

"I feel like some sort of meat. Or anything animal related, I guess. _Not_ that disgusting yogurt and fruit Ghost got."

Ghost frowned at this comment and argued back;

"That's good food! You're just being fussy! Besides, you need fruit in you, not just meat. No one can go full carnivore." He paused, thinking. "Well, not humans anyway."

"But I don't _want_ fruit!" Roach whined.

"He's going to keep whining until he eats." MacTavish said blandly. He stopped brushing his hair with his hands and stood up straight, and pushed the doors open. "Oh, and get your mask on." He added before he walked out.

Roach grumbled, "But I'm _huuuunnngggrryyyy!_" Tod looked at him in the eyes as Ghost followed MacTavish.

"Roach. Please?" that was enough to make him feel bad, so he sighed and went to grab the mask. He put it on and followed Tod out the door. Outside on the soccer field, MacTavish and Ghost were looking around at the trees that surrounded one side of the field.

"What do want, birds?" Ghost asked. He was looking around in the sky, looking for anything suitable for Roach to eat.

"Yeah. A big one, if you can! I'm so _hungryyyyyy!_" he whined. They stood outside the shower block, and Tod pointed to a black bird about the size of a small cat strutting around on the grass about 100 meters in front of them-near the tress…what is a crow?

"There's one. Is that big enough?" Tod pointed to the crow, and Roach nodded. MacTavish took aim, but Ghost noticed his hands were shaking and so was his sight.

"Here, let me," Ghost took aim and shot the bird square in the head, and it fell over in a ruffle of feathers. Roach instantly bolted after it, and while he was gone, Ghost asked MacTavish,

"What's up? You've been so shaky ever since the whole outbreak started." He still had his mask off, both items tucked away into his backpack. His face had concern written all over it, which is something no one ever saw, or even his face, for that matter.

"Just a bit nervous." He replied quietly. "Anything could happen. I should have never let that Walker get to Gary. This is all my fault." He used Roach's real name for once, and he had a sorrow look oh his face as he watched Roach pick up the crow.

"What's he doing?" MacTavish asked. Roach had taken off his mask to eat the bird, but he was on his knees and he looked like he was….

Ripping the bird apart….

"Is he ok?" Tod asked.

"Lets go see." Ghost gestured to MacTavish and Tod. They followed him and came up to Roach, but stopped about five, meters from him. He hadn't noticed them, probably the soft, moist grass dulling their footsteps.

"Roach?" Ghost called softly.

At the sound of his name, or the sudden noise, Roach turned around and met Ghost dead in the eye.

Roach's eyes were wide, and blood covered his mouth and dripped down his chin. He growled a bit, then he got up from the ground and slowly walked towards them. The dead bird had feathers everywhere, and it all that was left was its head, legs and rib cage.

Roach lunged at Tod, but he quickly ducked out of his way, and Roach fell to the ground. Seeing his chance, Ghost grabbed the mask that lay near the dead bird and he leapt onto Roach, holding him to the ground with one hand on his chest, the other holding the mask. MacTavish jumped in and held Roach's arms-which was hard, because he was strong and he kept struggling.

While Roach was still roaring at Ghost, Tod came over and held his head down. Ghost pulled the mask over his head so it covered his mouth, with the elastic straps going around the back of his head. Ghost looked to Tod, who didn't need anything else to know what Ghost wanted.

Tod quickly let go of Roach's head-now secure with the mask- and pulled off his backpack. He unzipped the smallest pocket to find a bottle of sleeping pills. They wouldn't take effect immediately, but it was all they had. He dropped two pills into Roach's still growling and biting mouth, and poured a bit of water down too.

Roach choked a bit, but the pills soon went down his throat, but he kept on struggling. He was kicking desperately to get free of the hostile humans holding him down. Blood that was in Roach's mouth from the bird was now spat a bit onto Ghost's hands….

And onto the open cut on his hand.

_**I'm starting to do bigger paragraphs now, yay!**_

_**What will happen next? What will happen to Ghost?**_

_**NE NOR NE NOR! **REVIEWS AND MAYBE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISIM NEEDED!****_

_**No but seriously everyone I need more reviews I get about 200 something people viewing this and literally only 2 people who review regularly. (You two are my favourite because you always review! 3 )**_

_**Thank you all for reading, next chapter coming either very soon or is already here. ;)**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	6. Blackie and the Forest Man

_**This is Gus.**_

_**:(-[-(**_

_**Gus will be happy if you leave a review…**_

Blade woke up to a bright morning sun shining through the trees. A bit of dust was floating around, so it looked really cool when it floated through the sunlight. She sat up from her light blue sleeping bag and checked her surroundings, as she did every morning.

Four others slept around her. Check that, three. The guy with the mask was awake, sitting against the tree….staring at her.

"Don't get any ideas of eating me. My skin is very tough and I'm probably really chewy."

She also noticed he wasn't wearing his mask like she had seen him last time. There was faint dried blood around his mouth- so he might have eaten something.

_I wonder what he ate…probably an animal._

Then she wondered when the last time he had eaten, and if he was hungry now…

"I'm not hungry. And I wouldn't eat a human anyway, so don't worry about that." Roach said after a few seconds. He was still staring at her.

_Two can play that game darling._

Blade started staring at the other guy. What was his name? Roach? Yeah. If looks could kill, she would have burned smoking holes into his eyes by now.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer Blackie." Roach said dryly.

Now she was fired up at Roach.

"You were staring at me first!" she cried. She forgot to be a little bit quiet as the others were still sleeping, but they didn't stir.

"I wasn't staring at you, actually." He replied calmly.

"What were you staring at then?"

"The Walker slowly creeping up behind you." He said flatly.

Blade whipped around and look behind the tree she was laying against. She saw….

Nothing?

When she realised Roach was having her on, she whirled back around to face him. He was smiling smugly.

"What?" she demanded. "What's so funny?"

"You're so gullible." He said humorously.

"What do you mean? There _could_ have been a Walker sneaking up on me."

"Nah. You'd hear growling and the leaves crunching before it even saw you. And why so scared of just _one_ Walker? When you have four other people here to protect you?" he was really getting on her nerves.

"Three, really."

"What?" he sounded surprised.

"You don't really count, do you? You're like, half Walker, right? And I saw you growling at the big crowd of Walkers and they all backed up."

Roach looked slightly offended, but then took in what she had said.

"…but didn't you leave before they even came?" he said, confused.

"I didn't really leave. I wanted to see what would happen, so I just hid around the corner and watched you." As she said this , she remembered something else he had said. "And why did you call me 'Blackie'?"

"Well, I don't know your name, and your hair is black. So the name kinda sticks, right?" he said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

Blade thought about this for a moment. 'Blackie' kind of _did_ suit her. But she wouldn't allow it. No way.

"My name is Blade." Was all she said.

"Roach." He said back. "But I'm guessing that's not your real name?" the others were starting to stir.

"No, but I'm sure _Roach_ isn't your proper name either." She shot back.

"Well, what is it?" he asked curiously, with ought any hostility in his voice.

"I'm not telling you. I don't trust you enough." Blade got up and started rolling up her sleeping bag. The morning sun was the kind that was really hot, not warm and comforting.

"Fine then." Roach started putting on his mask as the others started to wake up. he hadn't slept in his sleeping bag that night, he had been too tired to do much.

"I'll just call you by your weird nickname until I find out." Ghost slowly sat up in his sleeping bag and stretched, and rolled over to his left to wake MacTavish up.

"It's not a weird nickname! It's completely normal! 'Roach' doesn't make any sense." She sounded slightly upset.

"My name has a reason! And a story behind it!" he shot right back.

"Guys, I'm glad you're bonding, but like, you've been talking for 20 minutes and anything could have heard us." Mumbled a tired sounding Tod.

"Knives here started the conversation." Roach said haughtily.

" 'Knives'? Did you just call me 'knives'?" she flared.

"Well, it's the same as 'Blade' isn't it?" Roach acted taken aback, but he sneered through his black mask.

"Guys, calm down." Scolded a grumpy sounding Ghost from the left. "Blackie is with us now-if she wants to stay- and we'll need to work together." Blade opened her mouth and frowned at Ghost, astounded.

"Seriously?" she growled. "My. Name. Is. Not. Blackie. And I've got nowhere else to go, so I guess I'll be staying with youse."

"Good." Ghost said. "Then we can all be one, big happy family. I'll be the dad, Mac can be the mum that loves to cook, Tod will be the anxious uncle, Roach will be the annoying nephew, and Blade can be the big sister."

"Why do I have to be the annoying nephew?" Roach grumbled from his spot.

"Well, the name Blackie does suit you." Yawned a sleepy MacTavish, sitting up from his leafy covered sleeping bag. He stopped and looked down at the couple of leaves on him, then looked at everyone else's sleeping bags.

"Oh man. How come _I_ got leaves?" he sounded slightly exasperated.

"Because you're the forest man." Ghost answered as he started rolling up his sleeping bag.

"'Forest man'?" Blade echoed.

"Oh yeah." Ghost smiled. He grabbed his mask and sunglasses from his rucksack, and put them on. "You should see him when we go camping."

MacTavish blushed, then he realised what Ghost had said. "Wait, no…he meant I'm really good with camping and…" he trailed off as the others giggled hysterically. Then he blushed even more.

After they had been walking on a deserted city road for a while, Roach decided he was hungry and went off to find food. He came back with fresh blood on his face and the mask hanging from a clip on his bag.

"How did you find us again so quickly?" Blade asked. She still didn't like Roach.

"I could smell you all." He replied brightly. "You all have a weirdly unique scent.

"What are they?" Tod asked.

"You smell like freshly mown grass, Ghost smells like spearmint, Mac smells like leaves, for some reason." He stopped as Ghost giggled.

"See." He said in a fit of giggles. "I told you he was the forest man." MacTavish blushed again.

He went on. "I think I smell like pine trees. And Blade smells like gumtrees." He wiped his face on his shirt and put his mask back on. It still felt weird to wear it.

_**:(-[-( Gus is still sad. Leave a review to make him happy! :D**_

_**More coming soon!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	7. Druid

_**Here we are again! :D I bet you all have many questions, like why isn't Ghost sick from his maybe-infected hand? Will they find others out there? Will Roach go crazy again? Read on to see!**_

_**A/N: I imagine the city almost the same as the one in **_**I Am Legend**_**. :)**_

_**A/N 2: *Mild Swearing!***_

They walked on through the city for a while, sometimes encountering a Walker, to which Roach practised on scaring them away. The more aggression he showed, the quicker they were to retreat. Ghost noticed Roach had taken a liking to birds.

One afternoon, they were walking down an alleyway, when something dashed across the gap of the walls ahead of them. They all stopped, listening for a noise.

"It's not a Walker." Roach reassured them. Ghost let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

MacTavish came out of the alleyway first. He looked through his sights and looked left and right with his gun-but there was no one around.

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past MacTavish's head, just missing him and smacking into the stonewall to his left. He ducked to the right beside a fallen shop sign, while the others flung to the left behind a low wall-which half of it was crumbled.

"Stop hiding you little shits!" a new voice called out. The voice was British, clear and loud. "We've got every weapon we have aimed at you all! Terrible, hiding places too, I might add!"

"Says the ass wipe that fired an arrow at me and missed..." muttered MacTavish.

"Oi!" the voice called again, somewhere...above? "I 'eard that!"

MacTavish's eyes widened. "How the fuck did he hear that?!" he hissed to himself.

"Come on out! Now!" the voice cried.

MacTavish stood up from his spot, and found a figure in a building in front of them, aiming his bow and arrow at them through a broken window on the second floor. He lowered his gun, but still held a firm grip on it.

"And the others!"

Tod, Ghost, Blade and Roach stood up from their spot and walked out, hands raised in submission. Besides Ghost. He held his gun the same as MacTavish's, but a bit higher. They stood next to MacTavish, while the figure on the second floor grabbed the ledge below and dropped to the ground, his bow slinged onto his back. He wore a black jumper with the hood up, shadowing his features, and blue jeans-which was what they had seen dash across the alley before.

"Now mate, I put my bow away, it's only polite to put your weapons down too." He looked at Ghost and MacTavish.

MacTavish glanced at Ghost, and they both lowered their guns. The hooded figure smiled and relaxed a bit.

"Now, we're we off to lads and lassies?" the newcomer asked.

"We're…not exactly sure. We travel around a lot, try to find a safe spot." MacTavish answered. He kept his eyes on the stranger.

The stranger laughed. "Every where's a safe spot if you got the right stuff. By the way, what's up with the lad wearing the mask? For fashionable purposes, I hope."

"He's…sick." Was all MacTavish said.

The stranger held his smile while he stared at Roach. Roach's eye were fearful, and he shuffled closer to Ghost.

"Well now, nothing wrong with a sick lad, now is there?" he noticed the staring pairs of eyes on him. "Oh my! Where are my manners?" he smirked and pulled down his hood, revealing electric blue eyes, pale white skin, white-blonde, flat hair, sparkling teeth and blonde eyebrows. Ghost heard Roach inhale sharply through his mask. What was that for? The lad was somewhat handsome, to be honest, but no one to fall for.

"I'm Druid. Bandit, champion arrow shooter, lover, fighter and I also specialise in making homemade dreamcatchers." The last bit was easy to believe. He was skinny and tall while looking only around 19 years old. He reminded Ghost of Eminem.

"And my lads here…" he made a gesture with his left hand down by his side, he moved his pinkie finger just enough for Ghost to notice it in his peripheral vision. Three others came out of the same building Druid had been in, but on the first floor. They wandered to him, two by both sides, and the third was smaller than the others, and hiding behind the tallest one on Druid's left.

"This is Yuri." He jerked his head to the tallest one on the left. Yuri had tanned skin and blue eyes, a head full of black hair, a knife on his belt and a sour look on his face. He sported a camo zip-up jumper and cargo pants. Even though they all had bows, it seemed like Yuri preferred blades, as he had a crossbow instead of a normal bow.

"That's Wolf." He jerked his head to the right, where a slightly shorter, more muscular man stood. Brown eyes, brown hair, and an olive complexion. Wolf wore a pure white hoodie-, which amazed Ghost as to how he had kept it clean all the time- and jet-black track pants. The colours of his clothes merged weirdly, as though they were a Yin and Yang. Ghost noticed a sparkle in Wolf's right ear- a ruby red earring stud.

"And this…creature, is Void." Druid looked over at the smallest one hiding behind Yuri. Void only looked like a 14 year old. He had darker skin than the others did. Ghost was amazed to see that Void had…

Black eyes?

Pure black, like…

A void. Yeah. That name suited him perfectly. Void wore a grey long sleeved shirt and had shaved black hair. Honestly- he looked like a sad refugee. He was the only one who wore shorts- they were green, but with small rips in them.

"Shoulda called him bushranger. Little fella could talk about the outback till the cows come home!" Druid complained. Blade's eyes brightened-a fellow Aussie?

"Now I've introduced my lot, what about your gang, Mohawk?" he was addressing MacTavish, who looked slightly offended, but carried on,

"I'm MacTavish." he said gruffly. He glanced over at Ghost. "That's Ghost." Then he nodded to the others as he said their names. "Tod, Blade and Roach."

"Well then, now that we all know each other, we might as well show you to our camp. The others would want to meet you." Sunset was falling and darkness quickly taking over. They followed Druid and his gang down the street to wherever their camp was.

They came to a park in the city, full of tents and campfires. Food hung on hooks near one big tent, and there were maybe a hundred people sitting by their fires, on chairs, or younger ones chasing each other.

"Here we are!" Druid announced. They walked through a tall gate that had 'guards' which looked like 15 year olds that had guns- and two towers just above them- all made out of wood. It looked more like a fortress than a camp. The top of the wooden wall was spiked, which made it look like a medieval barracks. They went in, but the guards stopped Roach-who was at the end.

"You sick?" one asked.

"Uhh..."he muttered. MacTavish turned around and glared at the guards as the others went in.

"He's fine. It's not a disease. He just has a bad habit of biting us, that's all. A weird impulse he gets." The guards looked suspicious at the words 'habit of biting us', but Druid intervened.

"Let 'em through lads. If he was a Walker he would be tryna eat you all by now." The guards reluctantly stepped aside.

Once they were in, MacTavish and Roach caught up with the others, who were walking up to a large tent with Wolf escorting them. Wolf stopped at the tent and addressed them all.

"Here is where you will be staying." His voice was wonderfully smooth with a Russian accent. "You sleep here until you decide whether you stay or leave. Each time you enter this tent, you put your signature here and time you entered or exited." He pointed to a small table that had a clipboard with paper on it, flicking in the wind. A pen lay next to it, stuck to the table with blue-tack so it didn't roll away.

"Oh, and ladies tent is over there." He nodded to another tent the same size about 10 metres away. Other nervous looking women were sitting around the fire, holding their children or listening to stories told by the older ones that sat there as well.

"Any male found within five meters of the female's tent will be sent away, and will miss out on their next meal. Same with the male's tent. Bathrooms have the same rules. They are the stone building behind the bonfire area. That is all." He turned and walked over to one of the smaller tents, and disappeared inside.

"Well…see you guys." Blade said. She walked over to the female's tent and sat down with the others.

_**Yikes, this chapter is long. For me, anyway. Scene inspired by **_**The 100.**_** Great movie that is. Except no zombies, :( instead, everything on Earth is radioactive and there are 'Grounders'. And animals sometimes get two faces from the radiation. :) (If you really want a full summary just ask me in a review or message me idk)**_

_**Next chapter coming either very soon or is already here. I'm very full of ideas for the next chapter!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	8. Dreamtime Stories

_**I'm the best in my science class. My teacher always says I have good answers on the long-response questions. :) Just flexing on ya'll. **_

_**Oh, and I forgot to tell you all last chapter, yes, black-eyed people really do exist! They're also from myths and stuff like the 'Black Eyed Children" So they are very real, but extremely rare.**_

So far, Blade thought the camp was amazing. The spiked wooden fence was three metres tall and went around the whole park. At every corner of the fence was a 12-metre high watchtower. The tower had two guards each with a bow and arrow. They had a few guns, but they were for emergencies only.

She had gotten her stuff set up in the female's guest tent. There was 7 including Blade, and they had one canvas stretcher each. The ground floor of the tent was just dirt, the kind of dirt that was really powdery and soft. So if you dropped something onto it, it would be covered in dirt within seconds, even if it was just clothing.

She sat with the other women around the campfire with her hair being plaited by a little girl, who stayed in the guest tent with one of the elderly ladies- her grandmother, she presumed. The guests had logs cut in half to sit on; whereas the permanent residents had foldable chairs. Blade hoped that the others would decide to stay.

The elders told Dreamtime stories to the little ones of how certain animals looked the way they did. Like with one story, the hyenas had stolen the lions' mane, and the parrot wanted to tell him who had stolen it, but back then, he didn't have an open beak, so he couldn't talk. He went to the monkeys for help, but they just gave him coconuts to eat. He got very angry that he couldn't speak and slammed him beak onto the coconut, cracking his beak open so he could finally speak.

Blade had heard this story before. It was one of her favourites. Another elder told tales of great black and white dragons that roamed the skies, way back before humans existed. Before the dinosaurs, even. The young ones loved this story the most, but before the woman could finish the story, the sound of bells sounded somewhere from within the maze of tents. It sounded three times, and everyone started to get up and go over to the bonfire area.

Blade followed all the others, not sure where to go. She found Tod in amongst the crowd of people.

"Hey." Was all she said. Tod turned to meet her eyes.

"Hello. Having fun here?" they saw that some people had formed a large circle around the bonfire sitting- while everyone else stood.

"Yeah! It's great. Do you know what we're doing here?" was it a meeting? Or handing out food?

"Dinner." He said emphatically.

"Oh. Where'd you find that out?"

"I listen and I learn." Tod said, he almost sounded like a village elder, but she didn't say that out loud.

"Oh. Ok." so that was the end of that. In the time that she had travelled with them, she could never seem to get a full conversation out of him. He was always so quiet.

They had all gathered in a large group around the bonfire. And through the chatter, she saw Druid climb up onto a wooden platform with Yuri and Wolf beside him and shout over the crowd:

"Alright everyone! Listen up!" he called. The chatter died down. "To any new guests we have today, or those who have forgotten, three bells sounds the start of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Six bells means get inside your tents and stay there. Twelve bells means go down to the emergency exits. Hopefully we will never hear twelve bells, but that's just so you know what to do if there's an emergency."

"Everyone gets their fair share of dinner. But if I find you doing something helpful or kind, I'll write your name down, and you get a special dessert." As he said all this, plastic plates were being handed out to everyone.

"However," Druid went on. "If I, Yuri, Wolf or Void catch you doing something _bad_, for instance, teasing, physically abusing, or any fraternisation with either gender, there will be _no dinner_ for those trouble makers. If you are a couple, mild frat is fine, but nothing too…over the top. If you are being bullied or harassed or see any frat where it's not supposed to happen, come tell either me, Yuri, Wolf or Void and we'll confront them about it. That's all." He stepped down from the platform and everyone was given his or her plate of food.

Blade was given her plate, which had a small plastic fork, canned peaches, a plum, and a small bag of Smiths original chips. Smiths chips were awesome!

After everyone had eaten, or mostly everyone, Wolf came up to the platform, and everyone fell silent in an amazing amount of time. He didn't have to yell or anything.

"Could the following guests please Druid at the HQ tent after they have eaten: Roach, Blade and MacTavish.." he stumbled over MacTavish's name in his Russian accent. She could understand seeing Roach and MacTavish about why Roach wore his mask, but she didn't know why he wanted to see Blade.

As she had already finished, Blade put her plastic plate on the slowly growing pile of plates on a trestle table, and headed over to a large tent on the other side of the bonfire. Druid was leaning against one of the poles that supported the tent, but stood up straight as she walked over.

"Hey there." He greeted kindly. "You must be Blade. Saw you with the others in that group. Just wanted to ask you something."

"Sure." She recounted all the things she had done since she had met Druid, she hadn't done anything bad, had she?

"You don't have a relationship to the others in your group? Only, we need to know in case we see you snogging one of your friends, although you wouldn't call them your friends yet, would you? Judging by the way you always stay to the back of the group and never talk, you just met them recently, yes?"

"Um, yeah. Only a few days ago." She saw Roach and MacTavish coming over to them from the corner of her eye. "But no, I don't have a relationship with anyone. I'm not close with them."

He nodded as she said this. "Oh, and also." He added as she turned to leave. "Don't listen to old Valiente's story of dragons if she tells you any. One of the ladies is a little worried because she names variant cat breeds at night while everyone sleeps." She nodded understandingly and went back to her tent to grab her toothbrush and toothpaste.

What was Roach needed for? He was sure it was the mask.

And for the mask it was.

"Alright fella's. You're gonna have to tell me. If I keep saying you're not sick to everyone who asks why you wear the mask, people are gonna start to think I'm lying. Please."

Roach sighed and looked at MacTavish.

"We might as well tell you how it happened." Druid nodded and opened the flap of the tent to let them inside. In the tent there was a lightbulb hanging down, illuminating a map on a trestle table in the middle. Places were circled with a blue marker, while other places were circled with a red marker.

Once they sat down around the table, MacTavish told him the whole story. To Roach getting scratched, to him scaring off the massive crows of Walkers, to Roach eating the bird and going crazy. Druid nodded understandingly when he finished. He was silent for a moment.

"So…the Walkers are scared of Gary?" MacTavish had told him their real names throughout the story.

"Pretty much. The more aggression he shows, the quicker they back off." He explained.

"Do you find your own food?" Druid asked Roach. He silently nodded.

"Perhaps you could help with finding food? Most are too scared to go out and it takes a lot of time checking to see if there are Walkers inside the food stores."

At the sound of this, Gary's eyes brightened and he nodded enthusiastically. Druid smiled.

"Good. It's ok to tell the others then."

_**There ya go! Hope you enjoyed it!**_

_**What do you think of Druid? Is he really the charming, handsome man who makes Dreamcatchers, or is he hiding a secret hatred for Roach? \\(._.)/ Maybe he thinks Blade is particularly charming? We'll see!**_

_**I have so many ideas for the camp you have NO IDEA. It's gettin' crowded up here *points to head***_

_**And the story about the parrot with his beak is…well, it's not completely made up. I remember it from this show called **_**Tinga Tinga Tales.**_** Has anyone seen that? Fellow Aussies? No? :( It has all these stories for how animals look the way they are. Like How the Parrot got it's beak and How the centipede got its legs (It swapped it eyes for the snakes' legs so he could get to to a party)**_

_**Thanks for reading this far 3 The main story I mean. You don't really have to read this bit.**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	9. Inkspill

_**It's 10:50pm and I should be in bed. But I don't care. I want to do this chapter.**_

_**A/N: Valiente is pronounced Val-ee-en-tay**_

_**Edit: Now working on this at 1:17am. I can't sleep. :| I'm gonna be very tired in the morning.**_

"Tell us the story Miss Valiente. The one about the dragons." One of the little children piped.

"Hmm. Okay. But then you must sleep."

"Yay!" the four children cheered. They were sitting on the logs with the lady between them. She took off from where the story had stopped.

"So, they all agreed that the white dragons could soar in the day time while the black dragons could fly in the night. However, before these rules had been set, two dragons from the different tribes fell in love. The White dragon, her name was Yin. And the black dragon was Yang. Neither tribe knew that they had fallen in love, neither did they know that each night the two snuck off and went stargazing together. Yin said that he was her moon, and Yang told her she was his sun."

"But the tribes soon found out, as one of the black dragons saw them in a clearing of trees. The tribes were at war once again. But the two dragons stood up to their tribes when they were about to attack each other. Yin said enough was enough. They will fight no more. But Yang said to his tribe, 'there are other things we can fight than our own species."

"Yin disagreed and said they should never fight anything again. The two argued and finally, Yang lashed out at his beloved, but as soon as his claws touched her scales, both were merged into a rock. The rock had a small glowing symbol on the top. A circle that was half-black, half-white. The black side had a tiny bit of white in it, and the white had a tiny bit of black. The tribes stopped fighting forever, but it is said that Yin and Yang still battle constantly inside the rock."

"Whoa..." the children cooed.

"Alright, time for bed." The elder told them. The little girls all ran off to the tent, laughing and telling each other their favourite parts of the story. Blade listened to the other women gossip for a while, before heading off to bed herself.

That night, Blade dreamt of the two dragons fighting, trapped inside the stone forever. What if they were freed? Would they still fight? Would Yang still say it was ok to fight when he saw what the world had come to?

Roach got a few odd looks ever now and then, but most people had seen him wearing the mask now, and had assumed that if Druid let him stay, he was safe.

Roach did meet one new guy though. His name was Draco. He had pure white hair, and it stuck up just like Roaches'. He had arctic blue eyes, and looked just like Jack Frost. He didn't mind him wearing the mask. But he hadn't told him he reason why just yet. And Draco hadn't asked, either. Which gave him a feeling that Draco was not one to pry into others business. Ghost and MacTavish had talked to a few others in the tent, but seemed to have no real friends.

Roach saw that every time Ghost glanced at someone, they looked away. They might be scared of him. That would be hilarious if someone actually admitted it. Ghost was not scary at all. He was your average Brit with _slight_ anger issues and a splotch of dark humour. Ok, maybe not a splotch. More like an ink spill.

Tod kept to himself. He learnt many things just from listening to the others talk around him. He usually sat on his bed reading a book, or writing. Roach didn't know what he was writing. Maybe it was a story about how the world came to be like this. Maybe it was an autobiography.

Roach hoped he wasn't in it.

After lights out, everyone had fell asleep pretty fast. Roach lay in bed with his mask off, thinking about tomorrow. Everyone would know his secret then. Maybe he should come a bit late and stay in the back. Or maybe just skip breakfast altogether.

In the morning, Ghost woke Roach up.

"Hey, bug." He whispered, as everyone was still asleep. "Get up. I gotta talk to you." As soon as Ghost said this, Roach's eyes flickered open and looked at Ghost.

"Hmrf." He mumbled.

"I've talked to Mac and Tod. They want to stay here. What about you?" he queried. He knelt down by Roach's bed.

"Yeah…I guess…" he mumbled sleepily.

"Good. Because guess what?"

"Hm?"

"Druid said if you've decided to stay here, today you can go out with the others to find food. They'll definitely need the help. They skip breakfast though. And Druid said that's when he'll tell everyone about why you wear the mask."

"Why…I...gotta…go..." he was still half-asleep and wrapped in his blankets from the cold.

"Just because you can catch your own food doesn't mean you can't help. If you stay here, you gotta prove to them that you can pull your weight around here.

He had a point. A very good point.

"grrmmfff." He slurred.

"What?"

"I said I'm getting…up." he yawned and sat up from his bundle of blankets.

"That…did not sound like a proper sentence at all…"

"I slur a lot when 'm tired…" Roach sat upright in bed, but his eyes closed again.

Ghost punched his arm.

"OooWWWW!" he whined.

"Shut up!" Ghost hissed.

"You're the one who hit me!" Roach hissed back. His eyes fluttered closed again…

This time Ghost sighed and got his water bottle from his back pack, and chucked a heap onto Roach's face. The early morning temperature had made the water freezing.

Roach gasped.

"Fine! I'm up.!" he swung his legs out of bed and quickly got changed while Ghost put his water bottle back. Cold water _always_ works on sleepy people. Or boiling hot water. Either one worked. Hot water wasn't recommended though.

A head peeked through the flap of the tent. Brown hair and fair skin, with a small scar under his left eye.

"Hey, kid." he muttered. Everyone else was still asleep. "You coming out with us today? Heard you could be a big help."

"You can leave your mask here. You might find something to eat." Ghost murmured to him. He nodded and took only the essentials: water bottle, map (they had gotten it from the info store when they arrived in the city) and a spare pair of socks. If he got wet socks, he could change them, at least.

He couldn't _stand_ wet socks. He pulled on his hoodie and light backpack, and then walked outside the tent. The others were in a small group. Druid was right, not many had volunteered to go out looking for food. Or maybe no one had volunteered, and Druid had forced them to to. Which was understandable. If he wasn't a half-Walker, he wouldn't have wanted to leave the safety of the camp walls though.

Once he had gathered with the group, they checked they had everything they needed. One of them, the leader, Roach guessed, did a check for everyone:

Weapons, Map, water, light bags. For the two new guys, light bags are extremely important. If you need to run from something, whether it be Walkers, falling debris or dogs with rabies and such, at least you can run with ought a heavy bag weighing you down."

As soon as everyone had checked everything, they all headed for the gate.

_**Yes, cold water really does work on sleepy people. I have experience -_-**_

_**And having very light bags are great. It's like they're not even there. Very efficient if you're running after someone ;) Or late for class and you gotta run up two flights of stairs…**_

_**It's now 1:33am as I am finishing this. I **_**know**_** the consequences of staying up late on a school night, but I do it anyway. Oh well. If it's not gonna matter in 5 years, don't spend more than 5 minutes worrying about it!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	10. Bandits

_**I have cheddar cheese crackers. Be jealous. **_

_**Oh. Never mind. I already ate the whole box.**_

_**A/N: *Mild Swearing***_

Roach was told to keep a look out for any Walkers as they walked down the street. You could tell that they had come this way before, as objects and debris had been moved out of a certain path. It was in the middle of the road were a few dead cars were toppled over or broken. He had been told that they didn't use the pathways because Walkers could jump out at you from open shop doors, and you would never see it coming.

He was behind the group of five people including him. They came up to a corner store, and they stacked up at the sides. The leader, the one with the scar under his eye, caught Roach's eye and jerked his head towards the door. Roach nodded, and carefully walked up from the wall to the door, and pushed it open.

There was no scent. Except for a stale scent of a fox, there was nothing particularly dangerous in here.

"All clear." He breathed. He wandered in as the others followed.

Even thought the store was small, there were about 7 rows inside that were stocked with untouched food. There were a few shelves with magazines, lollies and small clothing items. The others opened up their bags and started shoving food inside. Chips, sauces, microwave meals- he figured they could be heated over a fire. He hoped they had rubbish bins. He hadn't seen any at dinner last night.

After about five minutes of rummaging through the shelves, they heard a low growl from the door.

There stood a Walker. He looked like he had been wearing neat clothes before he had gotten infected. Maybe he used to own this store. Like all Walkers, his skin was grey, and pretty much all of his hair was gone. The rest was just a tangled mess. His teeth were rotten and dirty, with his hands bony and discoloured.

Everyone froze. The Walker didn't move. He just looked around, his teeth making weird clicking noises. Why wasn't the Walker doing anything?

"Oi! Bones!" a new voice said. It was somewhere out in the street. "Over here mate! Come on!" the Walker instantly turned around at the noise, and lumbered over to him. A figure was standing on a car, holding two pieces of metal rods and hitting them together.

What is he _doing?!_

The others were still dead silent, not daring to move. One of the guys in the group pulled out his bow, but the leader put a hand up to stop him. As the Walker got closer to the new hooded figure, it slowed down, eventually stopping. Then Roach heard a low growl from the figure.

It sounded just like the growl Roach makes to scare off the Walkers.

It backed off as he growled, and the man jumped off the roof of the car in front of the Walker. From behind another car, he grabbed a wooden staff that had bones strapped along the sides at the top. They looked like small skulls, along with a few blue feathers that swayed in the slight breeze. On the top of the staff was a sharp piece of metal, like one you might find on a spear, but longer.

Halfway up the sharp point was what looked like a curve that faced out. Was it a claw of some sort?

The staff was as long as the man was tall, but maybe a head taller. The hooded man swung the staff above his head in a circle one, twice, and pointed it away down the street. The Walker immediately limped down to the direction the staff was pointing.

What did Roach just witness?

The man glanced at the group hiding in the shop. Then he ran off down the street-the opposite way the Walker had went, disappearing through the mess of cars.

The leader decided to start walking back to the camp, so they others followed.

"Who the _hell_ was that?" one of the guys asked.

"I've seen them before." Another growled. "Bandits, like us, but they move in groups of three."

"Leaves of three, leave them be." The leader quoted. "That's their motto. You leave them alone, they leave you alone. We've only ever seen them from a distance. That's the closest I've come to one. But I've never seen him do _that_ before."

"Like he was me." Roach whispered. But the others heard it.

"What?" they all asked in unison. "Can you do the same thing as them?" the leader asked.

"Well…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"It's ok. Druid told us about you last night." One of the smaller ones said.

"Oh. Well, I can scare them away, I can tell if it's a Walker or not by scent…and… I think that's all, but whenever other Walkers see me, they act normal. Like I'm not even there." They must be halfway back by now.

"Walkers don't mess with other Walkers. We found that out a few weeks ago." A tall one said. "A group of them had found a deer, but instead of fighting each other for the food, they took it in turns. No pushing or anything. Like wolves, kind of."

"Why wolves?" he asked curiously.

"Wolves hunt in packs, with the alpha leading them. When they get food, the alpha always eats first. Then the next rank, and the next. But the lowest, the omega, gets the scraps. That's what we saw them doing. They don't travel in groups though, the Walkers." The tall one seemed to be the smartest.

The leader laughed. "Jake. He's the bookworm. Ever need to know anything about animals, just go to him."

They were finally in sight of the camp. It was good to come back with a full bag of food.

Ghost saw the others walk through the wooden gates, and to his relief he saw that Roach was safe. Their bags looked heavier than they had when they had left. Ghost wondered what they had found.

What must have been the leader walked over to Druid straight away and said something very close to him. Roach must have seen what had happened out there. He would ask him. The leader went back over to the group and said something to them all and they nodded. Roach came over to the guest's tent, which they would be moving from later in the day as they had decided they were staying.

As Roach walked into the tent, Ghost noticed he got a few dirty looks from the others as he walked in. Poor Roach. Everyone had been astounded when Druid told them why Roach wore the mask. They weren't very happy. But at least no one was attacking Roach. Not right now anyway.

Roach flopped down onto his canvas bed and stared at the top of the tent. He lay in silence, probably exhausted from his adventure.

_**Done…I hope the teacher doesn't catch me not doing my work :D we have a sub teacher anyway. They are the best.**_

_**More coming soon. Ugh, I'm so hot. Its 33 degrees.**_

_**Guys. That 91.4 Fahrenheit. You have NO IDEA!**_

_**Sorry this took so long, school has dumped me 3 assignments. *rolls eyes ***_

_**-Stay Feirce!**_


	11. Twice As Many

_**Blade and Roach cuteness is coming this way! Not cuteness…but….hugs?**_

_***signs up for school soccer team* oh yay something to do in my life. other than write FF until I'm dead :D**_

_**A/N: 'tea' is gossip. Eg. Spill the beans! ; Spill the tea!**_

"Are you sure of this?" the shadowed leader asked.

"Yes. Four of them. One of them the very same we saw three days ago. He's the one the Walkers don't attack." The other replied. His staff was gripped tightly in his hand.

"Get him then. When he's alone." The leader commanded.

"Of course." The other replied ominously.

Roach saw Blade sitting on one the seats by the bonfire area. She was just watching the fire, looking like her head was on another planet.

Maybe he should fix things between them.

He exited from his new tent that he shared with Ghost, Tod and MacTavish- they had been moved to their own tent since they had decided to stay here. He wandered over, and sat next to Blade with a person-sized gap between them.

Blade glanced at him, the looked back to the fire. Here goes nothing.

"So..uh…how are you liking it here?" he stared at the fire. _That _was not the right thing to say.

"It's great actually. Listening to the other girl's gossip, now that's another type of tea. And the tucker is fine, and there's a lot of protection here." She looked at him right in the eyes and blinked. What did that mean? Was he supposed to say something back? Something comforting?

"Yeah. It is safe here." He saw the frown on her face as she stared at the fire. Time to wing it.

"But, it was always safe for me I guess. Maybe not in the very beginning, but now…I guess the world is different with me in it."

"I guess." Oh. What now?

"Do you…I mean…" she looked up at his stuttering.

"Is there something you don't like about me?" he blurted. "I mean, you always seemed so…hostile, from the beginning. If there's anything I can change, I'll try to fix it."

She looked surprised. Did he say the wrong thing?

"There is something actually. But you can't really fix it, can you?" he knew what she was talking about. Being a half-Walker.

"It's just that…after what happened back in those labs…I've been …wary. I mean, anything could happen, right?" that was reasonable.

Wait.

So Blade was _scared_ of him. Scared of what he might do, scared of what he _could_ do.

Now he understood why she didn't like him.

"Right. Anything could happen. I'm pretty unpredictable." He grinned at her, and she smiled.

She _smiled._

"What was your life like before you joined up?" she pondered.

"Oh. Pretty horrible actually. My parents hated me. They always said I wasn't good enough. I wanted to make them proud, but…I guess I never got to show them what I had achieved. Guess I never will, now." That was painful to say.

"My life was similar. But I hated my parents and they knew it. I wanted to get away from them as soon as possible. The day I turned 17, I joined the Army. It was a tough time, but it was worth it."

"17?" he asked. "Isn't the minimum joining age 18?"

"In Australia, 16 to apply, 17 to enlist and 18 to be deployed to another country." Oh. That explained it.

"And I've heard Australia hasn't got enough…discipline? America is said to be tougher."

"Maybe." She tutted. "But were used to hotter climates. And we can survive off the land. Don't think America has bush tucker right in their back yard, mate." She smirked at him smugly. Oh.

Two can play that game.

"Don't you eat your own national animal?" he countered.

"Only 'cause there are twice as many kangaroos than Aussies. Witchetty grubs are good too." That was her weapon of surprise.

Roach looked astounded.

"You eat _grubs?!_ Ew!"

"They ain't that bad." she noticed that people were starting to go inside there tents.

"We should head off." She murmured to him.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow Blade." He turned to leave.

"Oh, Roach?" she called softly.

"Yeah?" as he turned around to her, she pounced on him with a full-blown hug. At first he was stunned, but returned the hug, feeling the warmth of her match his.

"G'night Roach." She whispered.

"Goodnight Blade." He replied. They let go and smiled at each other, before turning to go back to their tents.

As Roach came back to his, he saw MacTavish dash inside. he frowned and stepped in, seeing Mac sitting on his bed, grinning at him.

"She's got you." He said, still grinning.

"Huh?" he asked confusedly.

"She likes ya. A lass only hugs boys that she likes." He lay down on his bed and got under the thin-ish covers while Roach got into his own.

"She doesn't. We were just fixing the problem between us."

"Nope. I've seen it before. A girl will like a boy, but will only show it after a certain problem has been cleared."

"Whatever. Were just friends." He mumbled.

"Mmmhh. You tell yourself that." MacTavish turned over in his bed dozed off. Pretty soon, Roach dozed off too.

The three hooded figures crept up to the spiked wooden gates, keeping to the shadows. They knew what he looked like. They just had to wait until the right moment. The two others leaned against the wall in the dark, while the other kept alert, ready for anything that might come their way.

The sentries hadn't seen them. Yet. They had to be careful. If they were seen, the whole camp would be put on alert, and they would have to wait another few weeks until they could snatch him. Then Allen would punish them for failing.

They had to be patient.

All they had to do was wait.

_**This is kind of a short chapter. But I have more ideas. :) Who are the hooded figures? Does Blade really like Roach, or is she just playin?**_

_**And yes, true fact that there are twice as many kangaroos than there are Australians. They taste good though. :P**_

_**Thank you all for reading this far, seriously appreciate it!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	12. Damsel In Distress

_**Here we go! Prepare to board the roller-coaster of ACTION!**_

Roach headed out with the gathering party early that morning. It was the same time as yesterday, but it felt earlier. Fog hung around the camp like a hidden enemy, waiting to snatch up its victims.

As they headed out the gates, Roach suddenly got a feeling of dread. Was a ghost around? Was something bad going to happen?

He had decided to wear his mask today, as this time they were going hunting for fresh meat. He couldn't let anything happen. Anything bad anyway.

The feeling of dread got stronger as they entered onto the street. Had he forgotten something? All he really needed was his bag. If he forgot something, the others were bound to have it as well.

_Unless they all thought that._

They walked down the same route they always took, down the street littered with broken down cars and metal debris. But instead of going into one of the stores, they kept going down the street, until they came across another park, but a little smaller than the one the camp was in. Oak trees clustered the area, making a cool shade cast over them.

The group grabbed out their bows from their back-except for Roach. He didn't know how to use one. When they would get back, Jake-one of the seniors of the group, said he would teach Roach how to use a bow. Right now it was his job to spot the animals and carry them back-if they caught anything.

As they carefully snuck through the park, Roach got that feeling of dread again. Like someone was watching them. Following them.

He dismissed the thought. If it were those bandits he had seen yesterday, the others could deal with them, right?

The leader-Snow- as he had found out, pointed to a tree up above. He looked up, and a currawong hopped along the branches, completely unaware of their presence, but as Snow aimed his bow to bring down the bird, something hard hit him on the back of head.

Snow heard a cry of pain from someone behind him, just as he loosed the arrow. The bird heard the pained cry, and flew off through the trees. Snow turned angrily at the person who had made the noise, but instead found a hooded figure holding an unconscious Roach by his hair. The seemingly hostile figure lifted a knife to Roach's throat and held it there menacingly.

"Don't move if you want the scrap to live." He growled.

Their whole group froze as five more bandits came from the trees around him. They had their crossbows aimed at them, and Snow noticed the one who had Roach had a revolver in a holster on his hip.

"Now, we'll just take the young boy here, and leave. If you try to follow us or fight, the boy will suffer."

Snow lifted his bow to aim at the bandit, but they were quicker. A bandit from the trees fired his crossbow, and a sharp arrow dug into his shoulder, and he cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Jake bent down to help him, but the bandit warned:

"You tried to fight. But now the boy will suffer. Oh well." He said airily as the remaining three we knocked out.

It felt as if he were being dragged along the ground. It felt as if someone were pulling on his collar. His head hurt. Ow. Was he hit over the head?

After a few more moments, he felt himself being dropped, and his head thumped onto soft grass. A bit was coming back to him now.

"I sure as hell hope they didn't kill him." A new voice said after a few moments of silence.

"He's fine." Another voice replied. "They only hit him on the side of his head, I think. He'll wake up."

The park. Yes. Before they had left, he had a sense of dread. Snow had aimed his bow at a bird and…then what? Had he been knocked out? Maybe that's why his head hurt so much.

"I know what will wake him up!" the second voice said. He heard scuffling footsteps that went over somewhere and came back.

"Careful! I'm not going back for more if you spill it, idiot!" the same voice scolded.

"Get your great lumping shoulders out of my way then, fathead!" the first voice growled.

A bit of scuffling around, then-

_Splash!_

Freezing cold water poured all over Roach, and he sat up gasping.

"Ha! It worked!" the second voice cheered.

"For once." The first voice mumbled.

Roach coughed and looked around.

He seemed to be in a large wooden hut of some sort, with soft grass underfoot. There were four beds inside the big hut, but only two others stood before him. He looked up at them, and noticed that one looked visibly younger than the other, with black hair cut to a swoop and olive skin, while the other had a sour expression and had a darker skin tone, with the exact same hair as the other.

_Are they brothers?_ Roach thought. They looked alike.

"Uh.." he mumbled. "Who are you?" he looked at the two standing in front of him.

"Huh.." the younger one said. "Don't people usually ask 'where am I?'?"

"They ask the first question that comes to mind, chica." The older one retorted.

The younger glared at his companion. "_Don't_ call me _chica_." He growled. The other rolled his eyes, and extended his hand to help Roach up. He took it, and dusted grass off his clothes as the older boy introduced himself.

"I'm Diego." Said the older boy. "And my weakling brother here is Ricardo." He jerked his head to the younger boy beside him. "You've been here a while and you were pretty boring, so we woke you up."

"_I _woke you up." Ricardo beamed.

"Well, sorry for being boring. I was kinda hit on the head really hard." Then he realised something. "My mask…" he muttered as he touched his hands to his face. His mask was gone. Odd.

"Oh. They took your mask off, for some reason." Ricardo explained. "I asked why and they said you wouldn't need it. What did you need it for?" he pondered inquisitively.

"Can't exactly say. It would take a bit of time to explain." Roach said as he looked around the hut. Above each bed was a shelf. Two of them were empty, but the ones on the other side of the hut were decorated with photos and a trophy or two.

"You've got no time." Diego muttered darkly as he peered out of the door. He whipped around to face Roach. "Quick, get on the ground the way you were when you woke up!" he hissed.

Roach did as he was told, and lay on the dusty ground the same way he was when he woke up. Ricardo and Diego backed up as two men walked through the door, glaring around the room.

"Get up.," one of them growled as he kicked Roach's side. He groaned in pain and opened his eyes a bit to try to show he was tired. The one who kicked him pulled him up by his arm and slammed him against the wall. Spots danced in his vision as his hands were pulled behind his back and zip-tied.

The man grabbed Roach's hair forcefully and guided him out the door, with his companion behind him. Just as they walked out, he heard Diego mutter,

"He's going to be dead by the time they finish with him."

_**Sorry these chapters are taking SO LONG to put up. **_

_**Nothing much to say here…**_

_**Oh. Hang on. Just to mention, Diego and Ricardo are Spanish.**_

_**How will our damsel in distress be rescued? What will his captors do to him? What's going to happen to Snow? So many questions!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	13. We'll Get Him Back

_**Enjoy!**_

Jake and Adam supported Snow, while James-the youngest- followed them behind. The blood loss from Snow's shoulder made him weary, so the older two supported them on his shoulders while they went back in to camp.

Druid ran over to them the moment they came in, with a worried look on his face.

"Snow! You okay?" he fretted.

"Yeah…"he replied weakly. "I'll live."

"Get him to the medical tent." He ordered to Jake and Adam. They both nodded and guided him to the medical tent. Druid looked to James, who looked frightened.

"Where's Roach?" he asked as he bent down to match his height. James was only 13, so he wasn't as tall as Druid.

"They…they took him…"he murmured, not meeting his eyes.

"The bandits?" he asked softly.

James nodded. "Snow tried to stop them, but that's when he got hurt. Then they knocked us all out. We woke up about…ten minutes later…" his eyes were wild as he recalled the recent events. "When we woke up, he was gone." He looked into Druid's arctic blue eyes. "Why did they take him? What's going to happen to him?"

Druid put his hand on James's shoulder. "He'll be okay," He lied. Roach wouldn't be okay. If he was taken by bandits, they wouldn't let him live with them peacefully. "Go and get some rest, ok?" James nodded and wandered over to the far side of the camp to his tent.

Druid stood up as he left. He had an idea of why they took Roach. They wanted him as their own. His ability to wander through the Walkers with ought being noticed, they would want to know how he does it.

If they wanted information, Druid knew they had very effective ways of getting it.

Roach groaned as the knife retraced down his arm again, making the cut deeper. They had been at this for what felt like hours, the knife being dragged down his arms, face and chest. Blood dripped down his chin from a cut that was above his eye, the blood had ran down his face and dripped onto his bare chest.

"Enough for today." His torturer said. His green eyes were cold as he smirked. "Don't get too comfortable. I'll be back tomorrow!" he turned and exited the room, with Roach hearing a _click_ as he locked the door.

The room looked a bit like a basement. Bare cement walls and ceiling, with a heavy metal door behind him. He couldn't move, his wrists and ankles were tied down to the metal chair. He weakly moved his sore wrists, he didn't know why. Maybe by the smallest chance the fetters would break, or to check that he could still move his arms.

Why were they keeping him here? Was there something they needed? And no, they hadn't told him the reason for being here. They should tell him. He hadn't done anything to them, had he?

Wait.

Maybe it was _him_ they wanted. _Him._ Not information, just him. Because of what he could do. Of course! It made sense, the bandit they had seen the first day, the one with the staff-that was bound to fail eventually. How did the staff even work?

They would want _him_ so he could work for them. Permanently.

Oh no.

That meant they were going to torture him until he forgot who his friends were, who Druid was, and convince him that he was one of them.

This was bad.

He could act as if he had forgotten everything. But not yet. They would get suspicious if he acted to forget on only the second day. No. he had to wait. For now, he had to hope he could hold out. Hope his friends would rescue him.

Hope that he could keep his mind.

No. _no._

They _can't _have taken him.

The news that Druid brought was distressing to all of them, but Ghost especially. Roach was his closest friend, the only person who has ever felt like a brother to him. But why did they take him?

Ghost paced outside the tent as it grew dark. Inside his tent, it was quiet. The chatter and activity of the camp around him distracted him slightly for a moment as he listened, but his mind went back to Roach being alone out there.

Tod's head poked out of the tent. "Come in Ghost. You need rest after today." He did need rest. He had been helping repair one of the back watchtowers, which had broken supports. It was fixed now, but it had been tiring, even with four others to help.

Ghost nodded and went inside the tent, and went straight for his bed. He tried not to look at Roach's empty bed to his right. Even though it was only 7pm, he changed into loose clothes and climbed into bed, chucking his mask and sunglasses on his bag below the bed. He faced to the left, ignoring the absence of Roach's usual small snores and rustling of sheets as he dreamed.

He would make those bandits pay. He would get Roach back, no matter what it took. Whoever was their leader, they were going to pay.

He's get his friend back, no matter what it took.

_**:) I hope you like these chapters. Any ideas for what should happen next? Maybe leave a review?**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	14. Scout Mission

_**Hey there. Let's yeet this wheat shall we? :)**_

* * *

"You can't go."

"Yes I can. I'm getting him back. With or with ought the help of anyone else."

"Then you'll get caught too."

"Maybe. But then at least I'll know if he's okay."

"Well that useless, isn't it?"

"Guys! Shut up already!" groaned MacTavish from his bed. Tod and Ghost had been arguing for _ages_ and they _would not stop._

"I'm going. And no one can stop me." Ghost swung his bag on and stormed out of the tent.

"Leave him." MacTavish said as Tod went to follow him. "You won't be able to change his mind. Once he's made it up, no one can stop him." Even though Tod was a friend, he hadn't known Ghost for half his life. They had only found Tod when the whole outbreak/apocalypse started. So he didn't know anyone that well, really.

Tod sighed and sat back onto his bed. If Ghost was really going to get revenge on the bandits and get Roach back, he did not want to stand in his way.

* * *

The cell was dark and quiet. Not completely dark, as the light shone underneath the door. The hard cement floors made it hard to sleep or get comfortable. Nothing new had happened in his time in the room, except for someone getting _destroyed_ by the leader of the bandits-Allen, as he had heard from the others talking to him outside. He was Spanish, too. You could tell from his accent. He heard from his cell that the person had fed their dogs off meat, and now they were sick. It was entertaining to hear people get in trouble.

Roach shifted a bit from his spot against the wall, opposite the door. He was in pain everywhere, especially his chest, which made it painful to breathe. Being in the dark all this time, made him have crazy thoughts.

Will anyone come for me? What if I'm wrong and they're really just doing this for fun? What if they actually manage to turn me, or if I pretend long enough and forget who I am?

Will I ever see my friends again?

_Stop that_, he told himself. _You'll get out. Somehow._

He didn't really believe it though.

* * *

After two days of searching, Ghost finally found their camp. It was on the edge of town, and it looked mostly like small huts, but in the middle of the camp was stairs leading underground, like a stairway to an underground train station.

He crouched down behind a large mulberry bush and scoped out the area.

There didn't seem to be any guards. There wasn't even a fence. The ground of the camp was all dirt, with small fires near each wooden hut, and some people were stoking the fires, or staring aimlessly into the embers.

There were two German shepherds near one hut, but they were laying down, and a young man was looking at them carefully, as if they were sick.

_I hope they're sick. Makes my job just a bit easier._

The camp was quiet, even though there seemed to be many people around. Most of them had crossbows, and a few had weirds staffs which sported bones and feathers flowing in the wind.

_Those must be the staffs they use on the Walkers. But they're bound to fail eventually._

He would just have to wait until night, then, he would take out as many bandits as he could.

And get Roach back.

* * *

The next time someone opened the door, he tried to act forgetful and confused. The figure stood at the door, the room flooding with light as he said,

"wh…who are you? Why is it dark?" he asked tiredly, both for the act and because he really was tired.

Even with the light flooding his eyes, he could see the man smirk. He walked over and hauled Roach up by his arm.

"Do you know who you are?" the man said. He cocked his head a little.

"No…am I supposed to remember?" he replied nervously. He hoped his act would work.

"Don't worry about that. Come with me." The man grabbed his upper arm and led him out of the room, into a blindingly bright hallway. He realised this man was Allen. The leader of the bandits. If he could fool the leader, he cold fool them all.

_Don't get too cocky yet. _He reminded himself. Allen could easily realize it was a trick and send him back.

He was lead into a slightly darker office. It wasn't really much of an office, but more of a bedroom. A small bed with dark green sheets was tucked into the left corner, while a wooden desk occupied the far right corner, decorated with sheets of paper and….drawings. Was he an artist?

"Sit." Allen gestured with one hand to a chair that was opposite his desk. Allen himself sat behind his desk, and added a few lines to a sketch, the looked up at Roach.

"So, tell me what you _do _know, and we can go off from there." He put his hands together, and watched him inquisitively.

"Um…Well, I know that the world is in an apocalypse, and I think…I was hit on the head somewhere?" he frowned slightly, as if trying to remember something. "Oh, and I have this weird thing with the…Walkers, they're called? They're scared of me, or they just leave me alone. I don't know why. I think that's all I can remember." Now to see what Allen would say.

"Yes. Well, you're part of the bandits that run this part of town, and see, you were sent out on a scouting mission, to see if there were any lost souls wandering around, looking for others. When you didn't come back, I sent a team out to find you. They found you near a river, your head almost below the water, so you must have slipped and hit your head."

"Oh…I think the only part I remember was hitting my head, I think." Allen's cold green eyes met Roach's sift brown eyes, and he tried to look confused. After what seemed like a thousand years, Allen poured him a glass of water, and handed it to him.

"Here. Drink." He said as Roach took the glass. It seemed to be normal water, so he took a few sips. Allen watched him with deadly eyes, but as he put the glass down, he saw Allen smile.

"Okay. Now, do you still remember my name?" he asked. This was almost like an interrogation.

"Umm…did it start with an A?"

"Yep. I'm Allen. Leader of the bandits." He picked up a pencil and twirled it in his hands. "Now you should get some rest. You can't sleep with the others just yet, so you'll have to go back to where you woke up." Roach noticed he didn't call it a 'room' or a 'cell'.

He was lead back to the same spot, his arm held the same as before. But as Allen shoved him into the room, he slammed the door behind him. Roach's world was once again put into darkness, so he sighed and sat down against the wall.

As he sat down, his stomach started to ache. Maybe he was just hungry. Then his head started to hurt. After a few minutes, his gut exploded with pain, and his muscles seized up and he was frozen with pain, small gasps coming from him. Roach fell to the floor where he was sitting, his head jerking slightly.

He had made the wrong move. Allen was going to have him after all.

* * *

_**Ooooo! What's going to happen? Next chapter coming soon! If you have any ideas or questions just PM me or review. **_

_**What do I need to add? Or change? Do I need more detail, less thoughts, stuff like that?**_

_**Hope you enjoyed!**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


	15. Get Him Back

_**Here we go again! Ghost has a little secret. What is it, do you think? ;)**_

* * *

It was nightfall, and Ghost was making his move. He had been hiding in the mulberry bush for about 6 hours, waiting for the camp to go quiet. Finally, it seemed like everyone had headed in for bed. There was no children, he noticed.

He crouched from his spot, and slowly walked to the gates. They didn't have guards, either. They were a bit slack. He slipped right through the open gates and hid behind a wooden hut. The stairs leading underground weren't guarded, either. Definitely slack.

He went over, crouching low as he went, and saw there was one light hanging above the door. It wasn't even a light, it was just a light bulb hanging on wire. Ghost pushed on the door handle, and it swung open silently. They were making this too easy for him.

He walked into the underground area, cement ceilings about the height of a giraffe. He was about to turn a corner when he felt something hard knock him on the back of his head.

* * *

Roach's body convulsed with pain, it felt like he was on fire. He wanted to scream, to yell, but his mouth wouldn't let him. In the dark, he lost most of his senses. His ears were ringing and his eyes hurt from straining them in the dark, and his hands were so numb he could barely feel the hard cement floor beneath him.

After a while, he fell unconscious, or just fell asleep from exhaustion. And when he woke up, the pain was gone. But the room was still dark. He heard voices outside though.

Familiar voices. Some sounded as if they were giving orders, others asking questions, but far off, there was another sound.

Screaming.

* * *

They shocked him again. Longer, this time. The electricity flew through his body like the poison from a snakebite. They had been at this for a while, and Ghost's body felt like it was getting weaker by the second. After the pain ebbed away, the man torturing him stepped in front.

"Since you failed to answer that question, I will ask another." He had a strong Spanish accent, broad shoulders and icy green eyes. "Why did you come here?" once again, Ghost didn't answer. "Is there someone here you are after?" Ghost made the mistake of looking down slightly and avoiding his cold stare.

"Ah. There is. Someone you care dearly about, if you came all this way." Ghost opened his mouth to argue, but the man interrupted him.

"Ah ah, don't deny it. Who are they? A close friend?" Ghost frowned at him and blinked.

"Must be a very close friend if you hid out there for six hours." He smirked at his surprised face. "Yes. My lookouts saw you coming from a long way off. Probably should have waited for nightfall to come here, eh?"

"There's someone I want you to see. I think he is the friend you came looking for." The man opened the door on the other side of the bare room and let someone in.

It was Roach.

Shaking, and cold looking, but he was alive.

"Roach!" he mistakenly called out. Roach looked confused at the sound of his name. He looked over to Ghost with a curious look.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The question struck Ghost like a bolt of lightning.

How could Roach forget who he was? What had this man done to him? And he was walking freely, even with ought an escort. Had he managed to turn Roach in such a short time? How?

All these questions ran through his head as the man simpered.

"Unfortunate soul. I guess you aren't friends after all." Roach looked at the man, then to Ghost. "But I've never seen you before. How were we ever friends?" as the man turned away to grab something from a nearby metal table, Roach met Ghost's eyes.

And, very slightly, he winked.

Ghost stared. It could have just been a reflex, or a nerve in his eye. Like one of those things where your fingers randomly twitch or you jolt awake at night. And before Ghost could do anything else, the man turned back to them, with Ghost's mask in his hand. He gave it to Roach.

"Does this look familiar at all?" Roach shook his head, but held it carefully in his hands, as if he were cherishing a forgotten memory…

"Hmm. Pity. Oh well. You're no use to me." He said to Ghost. He pulled a revolver from his side holster, spun it around so he was holding the barrel, and handed it to Roach.

"You kill him." He said simply. As Roach reached out for the gun, Ghost could see his hand was shaking. He took the gun, checked that there was ammo inside, and slowly, still shaking, raised his arm to aim at Ghost.

He wouldn't.

But he would. If this horrible man had turned him.

The gun stayed aimed at Ghost, but was never fired. Roach had a pained look on his face. The one where someone forces you to do something and you don't want to do it, but you have to otherwise someone will get hurt.

He lowered the gun.

"I can't." Roach said quietly. He looked at the floor, avoiding their eyes.

"Hm. No matter. I have something else planned for him anyway." The man untied Ghost and held a knife to his neck. He made him move through the open door and down a moody-looking hallway. Roach followed, staying behind.

They came to a room that looked like a lab. The ones that had a room inside and the walls were of glass, so the people on the outside could see everything.

Inside the room, was a Walker. Just standing there aimlessly.

Ghost stayed calm. No need to panic. Roach was walking beside them now, and as he couldn't move his head, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Roach looked…

Sad.

Like he knew what was going to happen.

He finally understood.

The man was going to put him in the room with the Walker. Maybe if he didn't panic, and stayed completely calm, the Walker wouldn't notice him.

He doubted it.

As Ghost was shoved against the thick glass wall for a few moments, kept there as the man opened the door, he remembered that Roach still had the gun. He glanced at him quickly, catching his eye. He looked to the gun, then to his eyes again. Roach nodded, just the tiniest bit.

He didn't have time to do anything else as he was pushed through the door, into the room with the Walker. He froze, and backed up against the glass wall. The Walker turned around at the sudden noise, but didn't move from where he was standing.

See? There was no need to panic.

Ever since that bit of blood had gotten onto the cut on his hand, Ghost had found himself being able to smell many more things. Able to hold his ground in front of Walkers. And he took a liking to meat.

Of course, he never told the others. They already thought he was dark enough.

Ghost turned to the man watching him, and smiled. He had a shocked look on his face, and Roach did too. As the man looked to Roach, the to Ghost, Roach pulled out the gun and aimed at him.

He flung his arms up and tried to grab the gun, but Roach had fired.

The man went down, lifeless. But the Walker was interested in that new sound. Ghost only needed to growl to make him back off. Roach opened the door and let him out.

"I thought you had forgotten about me." Ghost said. He looked down at the lifeless body on the ground below them.

"I would never." He retorted. "Let's go." As they turned to leave, the Walker wandered out from the room, as Ghost had left the door open.

"Leave him. They'll find him eventually."

They went back down the hallway, with Roach leading the way. They took a few turns, and came up to the main entrance of the tunnels. The large doors were open, and it was still dark. They wandered out into the fresh air, and headed for the front gates of the camp.

"Oh, you never told me you could do _that_." Roach said as they headed back for their own camp. Ghost smiled.

"I didn't want you guys to freak out." He replied.

So, what do you think the welcoming party will be like?" Roach asked.

* * *

_**There ya go! I don't know if this is the last chapter or if I'll make a whole freaking book or WHAT. But, whatever ya'll want.**_

_**So its 1:45am right now, and about half an hour ago, I opened my laptop, but my earplugs had magically pulled themselves from the audio jack, so my music was blasting into the dead of night. And everyone else is asleep. It took like a full 5 seconds to put it on mute. Scariest. Moment. Of. My life. **_

_**I hope you like all of this! (I feel like Tod and Blade have been forgotten)**_

_**Oh, and when you randomly jolt awake at night, that's because your heart rate slows down so quickly that your brain has to jolt your awake to check to see if you're still alive. Cool right?**_

_**I'll see you all…next story? Chapter? One-shot?**_

_**-Stay Fierce!**_


End file.
